''Many of you knew my father as a football player and as a business man,'' said his 18-year-old son Jarrett, who offered one of five tributes during the emotional two-hour service.

''I knew him as my dad and he was my hero.''

''My mother, my sister and I will miss him ... but we know he's in a place where there's no sickness, no pain.''

Payton, the NFL leader in yards gained (16,726) and carries (3,838) who missed just one game in his 13-year career with the Bears, died Monday of bile duct cancer. He was 45.

The mourners included NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and many of Payton's teammates from the Bears' 1985 team that won the Super Bowl.

''He affected so many people in a positive way, not only through athletic prowess, but through his generosity and for the way he lived his life,'' said New Orleans Saints coach Mike Ditka, the coach of that Bears team that was 18-1.

''Walter was a compassionate, loving, caring, sharing individual. When you think about that, you got to celebrate a person's life. Yeah, it isn't fair. Forty-five years on this Earth, you should be in the prime of your life. But I think it warns us that tomorrow is not promised.''

The altar at the Life Changers International Church was awash in flowers, many of them orange. One arrangement formed the ''34'' that Payton wore first at Jackson State and then with the Bears.

At the altar's center was a color portrait of Payton in his Chicago uniform, with his trademark white headband.

''I thought Walter Payton was the greatest football player who ever lived,'' former Oakland coach and TV commentator John Madden said on his way into the service, where he also spoke. ''He did it and he did it better than anyone. And he had more fun and that combination is a treasure.''

Madden said he will ask Tagliabue to create a book and video for all NFL players on how Payton handled both his career and his life outside of football. It would teach them, he said, ''how to be a pro.''

Jarrett Payton, who at the age of 12 introduced his father at his Hall of Fame induction, said, ''Little did I know that six years later, I'd be standing before you.''

Jarrett told the assembly how as a child, when his father needed him, he would whistle. No matter where he was, he could always hear that whistle.

He heard the whistle as he got off the bus before playing his first high school game at tailback after switching from soccer.

He understood that his father was saying: ''Represent me well.''

Two weeks ago, the University of Miami, where Jarrett plays, was trailing Boston College. Jarrett said though he knew his father was at home watching the game, he could swear he heard his whistle.

It was Jarrett's last game before he was called home to say goodbye to his father.

''I'll never forget that moment,'' Jarrett said.

For Dave Albrecht, a former Bears offensive lineman who started 83 NFL games with Payton, the service was bittersweet.

''I thought all the speakers were very different. There was a lot of diversity in that room. It was one of the greatest reunions I've ever been to,'' Albrecht said.

''Walter would have been very, very pleased. I didn't think I would handle this at all. It was so comforting to be in that room. I didn't know what to expect. I needed to put closure on this thing.''

Ditka, Payton's brother Eddie and teammate Mike Singletary also offered tributes. Singletary told of how Payton set off a firecracker in front of his dorm room during his rookie year, the first of many practical jokes.